SUBMITTED PHOTO
Cosplayers stand for a photo at a local Comic Con expo held at Medicine Hat College. The 2019 Comic Con event is being held Saturday frin 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Stampede Pavillion.
mcranker@medicinehatnews.com@MHNmocranker
Medicine Hat’s very own Comic-Con will be taking place this weekend.
The Gas City Entertainment Expo is running Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Stampede Pavilion and it is offering a number of events and chances to compete for prizes.
“A few years ago we saw that there was an opportunity for these in Medicine Hat so we gave it a try here,” said co-organizer Alana Petty. “Before we started running these, you would typically have to drive to a larger city to get this kind of experience.”
The event is centred around all things comics, videos games, movies and TV shows and it encourages people to dress up as their favourite characters, which is known as cosplaying.
“Cosplaying is a big part of this event,” said Petty. “All of the costumes are created by the person wearing them and they wear it to become that character – you’d be amazed at some of the cosplays we see.
“We have a few contests around cosplaying and we have cosplayers coming to the event from all over Alberta – they’ll be giving a panel on how to be a cosplayer and make costumes.”
The event will feature a few bands that will play throughout the day and it will play host to a number of speakers and experts on certain topics.
“We have three local bands who have donated their time for us – we’re very thankful,” said Petty. “We have a few voice actors coming down from Calgary and they’ll be holding a panel and they’ll talk about becoming a voice actor and their career paths.
“We also have Dungeons and Dragons campaigns going on and a Smash Brothers tournament happening throughout the day.”
Petty says the event is community-oriented and it is a fun place to be for a day.
“This is a community of people and a lot of them know each other,” she said. “This is a great way to get out of the house and to have some fun with your friends – it’s a bonus that people don’t have to travel to a bigger city.”
The event will feature a number of vendors from across the province selling costumes, toys and other relevant goods.
People under 12 years old get into the event for free, everyone older has to pay $10 admission.
More information on this year’s event can be found online at gascityentertainmentexpo.com
